Tag and I adopted our puppy Sydney on Thursday, January 31st. Six days later she was so sick that she had to stay overnight at a veterinary hospital with an IV giving her fluids.

Holy crap were we scared!

Sydney went to the vet on Monday and got some heartworm medicine. On Monday night she threw up twice, which we didn’t think was a big deal because vomiting was one of the side effects of the medicine.

Then in the morning she wouldn’t eat anything and wouldn’t drink much, and she wasn’t as lively as a puppy should be. Loss of appetite and lethargy were also potential side effects so we weren’t too worried. We figured it would pass and she’d be fine.

On Tuesday night she was throwing up again, and on Wednesday morning she still wasn’t eating. Tag took her to the vet and he gave her a shot that was supposed to stop her from throwing up. Then she threw up twice in the car, feel asleep when she got home, and threw up again hours later when she woke up.

Something was wrong.

We called the vet and he said we should bring her in immediately.

At this point we were freaking out. She was so lethargic she could hardly move and she hadn’t eaten or drank much of anything in two whole days. The vet he saw how bad she was and after a negative Parvo test (thank God!) he recommended that we leave her overnight hooked up to an IV so she could get her strength back.

We hadn’t even had her a week and we already had to spend a night without our puppy! Worse yet, we had no idea what was happening to her. Was she okay? Was she getting worse? It’s SCARY!

Luckily the fluids did wonders. She woke up and ate food for the first time in three days now. She even had enough energy to get into a little mischief at the vet. By the time I was done with work she was ready to go home!

When I picked Sydney up the guy at the front desk told me that he was going to print off a receipt. He handed it to me and there was a $500 bill!

When the vet came to give Sydney back she told me that they weren’t going to charge me because it was all just a bad reaction to the heartworm medicine they gave her and that they would try to recoup their costs from the heartworm medicine company.

Whew! I don’t really have an extra $500 lying around (although I would have found a way to pay for it to make my little baby better!).

This got me thinking… what if this happens again?!

Do I Need Pet Insurance?

If Sydney gets sick or hurt then I’m going to take her to the vet and get her fixed. When we adopted a puppy she became a part of our family, and we are financially responsible for keeping her healthy.

This is how she sleeps when she is REALLY tired.

I really don’t want to have to come up with $500 if she gets sick again. I definitely don’t want to come up with $2,000-$3,000 if she tears a ligament in her knee. However, there’s a fairly good chance that she’ll never get sick again until she’s old.

Is pet insurance worth it?

I got a quote online where I can get a comprehensive insurance plan for Sydney for between $19 and $28 a month. The $19/mo package has a $500 annual deductible, while the $24/mo package has a $250 deductible and the $28/mo package has a $100 deductible.

Keep in mind this isn’t like health insurance where EVERYTHING is covered. I’d still have to pay 100% for standard checkups, shots, and heartworm meds.

On one hand, the insurance will make sure Sydney doesn’t break the bank with health issues. On the other hand, the insurance isn’t cheap and I have a wedding to save for.

No Pet Insurance for Sydney Today

In looking at the numbers I just don’t think pet insurance is going to fit in the budget right now. I do understand it’s a risk, but it’s one I’m willing to take.

We already spent $350 adopting her and have spent a bunch on toys, food, a crate, leash and collar, and more. I’ve also spent $150 for a puppy training class that will last 6 weeks and start soon.

Puppies are expensive.

If something terrible happens with her health then I’m just going to have to buck up and pay for it from the wedding fund. Then I’ll make up for it with reduced spending elsewhere. I’d rather take the money I would have spent on premiums and the deductible and use that to pay for anything that might happen.

If nothing or something small happens, I’ll have made the right choice. If she has a really big health issue, I’ll have made the wrong choice. Only time will tell.

The great news is the she’s healthy again. She’s lots of trouble and too freaking adorable. We love her so much already!

Readers: If you have a pet, do you have pet insurance? If so, how much does it cost and have you ever had to use it?

16 Comments

Our cats are both old (one’s almost 17 and the other is 12) and they’re both on medicine and special diets and at this point they’re way too old for that. I haven’t ever considered pet insurance. I’ve always heard it’s even more difficult to get a claim paid than we experience with our insurance.

Lizzie
February 8, 2013 at 10:19 am

I have a friend who has top of the line pet insurance and over the last couple of years has paid over 4K for a perfectly healthy pet. I just think that’s a waste of money. For my pets, I just put aside what I would be paying for the insurance premium in a separate area on my excel budget. Then, If I ever need it it’s there and if I don’t then I didn’t waste my money for nothing.

Jamie
February 8, 2013 at 10:33 am

Great personal finance topic!

I have had my cat for 15 years, since she was born on my parents farm. She never had any health problems, and my only cost for her was a $17 bag of cat food every two months. Since she grew up on the farm (I was 15 when she was born), she didn’t even use a litter box, she just scratches to go outside. Seriously, the most cost-effective furry buddy I could hope for!

Now that she is old and testing badly for kidney issues, I’ve had to think more about the costs that I may be facing soon. A stupid realization for me was that all these years of her costing me next to nothing, I could have been putting aside a mere $10/month for vet bills and I would have saved $1800 by now.

$1800!!!!!!

I just started a fund for her where $15 will be transferred over every other week. If she doesn’t require any major treatments in the next year, I’ll have $360 saved– Which could help a little or a lot. Or not at all, if something happens that is instantly fatal, and then I’ll just have some extra money. If I have to put her down suddenly, it would at least cover that amount so that I don’t have to worry about money while I’m grieving.

Pet insurance is a little iffy to me, but if you don’t have it I highly recommend setting up a pet fund for Sydney! Especially right now, if she’s not costing you much otherwise.

Kevin, glad to hear your puppy is better! I’ve considered pet insurance, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Yes, there is some risk, but why not just save the cost of the pet insurance each month into an emergency account. If you don’t need it, it’s still there in your savings. You can always increase the amount saved if you think the risk is higher.

Bob
February 8, 2013 at 12:19 pm

Glad to hear that she’s doing much better.

We adopted a kitten a few months back. The adoption centre gave us a 30 day pet insurance. We reviewed the policy to see if we wanted to renew and figured it wasn’t worth it. Our cat is an indoor cat so we figured the chance of her getting sick of injured would be a lot lower than an outdoor cat.

A co-worker of mine has 2 dogs, he used to have pet insurance and decided to cancel it because he found it wasn’t worth it. Every time he files a claim their premium went up.

We’ve been putting aside some money each month.

Anna
February 8, 2013 at 1:51 pm

We opted for just tucking away some extra cash away each month to the same fund that covers other irregular-but-certain-to-happen bills like car repair. From what I’ve seen, the cost of pet insurance only pays off in very unlikely circumstances, and in many of those I wouldn’t take advantage of. At a certain point, an animal only knows it’s hurting, and going to extreme medical measures to keep it alive is simply selfish.

I have pet insurance and I’m SO GLAD. I love my kitty, but, to be honest, she’s a lemon. She’s had so many health problems since I adopted her, and it’s comforting to know that I’ve only had to cover a portion of those costs.The most recent saga I’m dealing with is a nasty scratch on her cornea (she’s declawed! WTF?!). So far, it’s required six vet visits and 4 different medications and it’s still not healed. Luckily, the insurance is covering 90% of the costs.If you change your mind, I highly recommend Pet Plan (www.gopetplan.com). And if you want to get a policy, it’s best to do it when she’s a puppy – your monthly premium will be lower. Mine is a little on the high side ($23) because I adopted an older cat.

nico@hou
February 8, 2013 at 11:09 pm

Well, I guess it’s an expense, but one that make sense. Depending if it would be a pet for me, my wife or my daughter, it would be a different choice.

At the end, the other question you have to ask yourself is this one:
“Assuming no insurance, if sidney medical condition necessitates a (too) huge chunk of money (and the threshold is person dependent), would I be able to put HIM down?”
For most of us, townies, the answer is no, and there flows the answer to your first question.

Tara R.
February 9, 2013 at 6:20 am

I’m one of those people that thinks insurance just unnecessarily drives up the cost of healthcare (for pets and people). I did have pet insurance for my dog briefly after a health scare that cost us $750 in emergency bills, but it was too little, too late. Obviously if you’re going to have insurance the point is to have it BEFORE a scare, not after…and we got lucky – our dog is pretty healthy and never needed the insurance after that one scare, so we dumped it. I’ve found it much more worthwhile to feed a higher-quality food to both my dog and my cat and make sure they get their regular annual vet visits for shots and checkups. Unless you adopt a purebred, most of which have their own typical health problems related to the breed, I’m not sure it’s worth it. If you adopt mutts like we do, you typically will do better off without insurance.

I budget for regular vet visits and emergencies. Thanksgiving Day, $440.00 ear is swelled to the size of a ballon emergencies. I have owned dogs for years and while the trip in is always an emergency the money for them is not in the emergency fund but in an account with my dental fund and the money set aside for the house insurance payment.

There is always a pet emergency and my dogs are seniors so even the regular wellness visits have increased. Just remember that you do not have to get all your prescriptions from the vet. Drugs are less expensive at the people pharmacy.

I always pictured out pet insurance as exclusively appropriate for expensive bomb-sniffing dogs where the insurable interest is in connection with the security service business. Thanks for this great info.

Frank
February 11, 2013 at 12:08 pm

I would get pet insurance, but not for the bumps and scrapes along the way. The chances are slim, but I’d want it in case of a catastrophe like a $10-15k procedure. Yeah, it probably won’t happen, and yeah the insurance company will probably win, but I don’t want to take the risk of having to make the choice between letting the family pet die or losing 15k to keep it alive.

Cute puppy!!!We have two dogs and we never went the pet insurance route. If we had, we would have wasted thousands on the dachshund, who never has needed much more than food and heartworm meds. We would have saved like $1000-$1200 on the Pug by now thanks to allergy issues that popped up out of no where and nearly killed him a few years ago, but now he’s just on $40 of maintenance steroids a year too. So overall, we’re ahead without pet insurance.

Have you ever heard of Care Credit? It is a type of credit card that you can use when you need it and it provides a 0% interest for X amount of months. It is specifically for medical things that insurance won’t usually cover. I was thinking about using it when I got Lasik done, but they also have it for vet payments. It is definitely something to look into! The reason I didn’t end up using it, was because I opened another credit card that had 0% for 12 months and offered rewards. That may be a good idea, too, if you can’t pay for a procedure all at once.

First off, that’s one of the cutest freakin puppies I have ever seen. Ever. Secondly, I’m a big believer in pet insurance. I used to not be BUT my friend proved how worth it it was. Her dog tends to eat things it shouldn’t, so it’s constantly going to the vet to get, er, cleaned out. Her insurance has saved her literally thousands of dollars. Big bucks when you think of it just being a pet.

Even more so, you really have to consider it a member of the family. You’d get the insurance for a kid, wouldn’t you? Just my two cents! Thanks for the post!

About Me

I'm Kate - I've spent ten years in the finance industry working for the man marketing mutual funds and insurance policies. Now I write about what I'm passionate about, helping average people take control of their own finances. Learn More

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